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Office of Head Start skip to primary page contentActing Director Patricia Brown

Head Start Program Fact Sheet

Fiscal Year 2007

 
FY 2006 Actual
FY 2007 Appropriation
Local Head Start Projects    
Projects in States and Territories
$6,085,972,000
$6,178,848,000
American Indian-Alaska Native, and Migrant and Seasonal Programs
$468,765,000
$475,919,000
Subtotal
$6,554,737,000
$6,654,767,000
Support Activities    
Training and Technical Assistance
$164,057,000
$175,214,000
Research, Demonstration and Evaluation
$19,788,000
$20,000,000
Monitoring/Program Review
$38,202,000
$38,590,000
Subtotal
$222,047,000
$233,804,000
                 TOTAL
$6,776,784,000
$6,888,571,000

ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
Office of Head Start
1250 Maryland Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20024

Head Start Logo

February 2007

Head Start Facts

The Head Start program is administered by the Office of Head Start (OHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

Grants are awarded by the ACF Regional Offices and the Office of Head Start's American Indian-Alaska Native, and Migrant and Seasonal Program Branches directly to local public agencies, private non-profit and for-profit organizations, Indian Tribes and school systems for the purpose of operating Head Start programs at the community level.

FY-2006 Program Statistics

ENROLLMENT
909,201
     Ages:  
     Number of 5 year olds and older
4%
     Number of 4 year olds
51%
     Number of 3 year olds
35%
     Number under 3 years of age
10%
     Racial/Ethnic Composition  
     American Indian/Alaska Native
4.2%
     Black/African American
30.7%
     White
39.8%
     Asian
1.8%
     Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
.9%
     Bi-Racial/Multi-Racial
6.4%
     Unspecified/Other
16.2%

     Hispanic/Latino
34%

NUMBER OF GRANTEES
1,604

     Number of Classrooms
50,030
     Number of Centers
18,875

AVERAGE COST PER CHILD
$7,209
PAID STAFF
218,000
VOLUNTEERS
1,365,000

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During the 2005-2006 Head Start Program Year:

  • 12.1 percent of the Head Start enrollment consisted of children with disabilities, (mental retardation, health impairments, visual handicaps, hearing impairments, emotional disturbance, speech and language impairments, orthopedic handicaps and learning disabilities).


  • Nearly 48,000 children participated in home-based Head Start program services.


  • 72 percent of Head Start teachers have at least an AA degree in Early Childhood Education.


  • 27 percent of Head Start program staff members were parents of current or former Head Start children. Nearly 925,000 parents volunteered in their local Head Start program.


  • 91 percent of Head Start children had health insurance. 87 percent of those with health insurance were enrolled in the Medicaid/Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT) program or a state sponsored child health insurance program.


  • The 1994 reauthorization of the Head Start Act established the Early Head Start program for low-income families with infants and toddlers. In Fiscal Year 2006, $679 million was used to support more than 650 programs which provided Early Head Start child development and family support services in all 50 states and in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. These programs served nearly 62,000 children under the age of three.


  • More than 211,000 Head Start fathers participated in organized regularly scheduled activities designed to involve them in Head Start and Early Head Start programs.


  • 95 Head Start and Early Head Start Programs were sponsored by faith-based organizations.

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FY 2006 Head Start Program State Allocations and Enrollment

STATE
FUNDING
ENROLLMENT
ALABAMA
105,467,527
16,374
ALASKA
12,336,713
1,580
ARIZONA
102,373,122
13,175
ARKANSAS
63,823,662
10,778
CALIFORNIA
822,593,768
98,395
COLORADO
67,594,321
9,820
CONNECTICUT
51,332,832
7,126
DELAWARE
13,091,612
2,071
District of Columbia
24,834,071
3,403
FLORIDA
260,267,233
35,514
GEORGIA
166,671,579
23,508
HAWAII
22,636,682
3,049
IDAHO
22,565,199
2,951
ILLINOIS
267,812,098
39,640
INDIANA
95,151,487
14,231
IOWA
50,987,675
7,710
KANSAS
50,371,658
8,335
KENTUCKY
106,670,143
16,071
LOUISIANA
144,311,959
21,910
MAINE
27,309,854
3,913
MARYLAND
77,183,646
10,347
MASSACHUSETTS
107,169,026
12,819
MICHIGAN
231,993,266
35,069
MINNESOTA
71,218,555
10,332
MISSISSIPPI
159,927,300
26,657
MISSOURI
117,694,689
17,451
MONTANA
20,720,770
2,929
NEBRASKA
35,665,489
5,080
NEVADA
24,015,210
2,754
NEW HAMPSHIRE
13,240,062
1,632
NEW JERSEY
127,606,975
14,582
NEW MEXICO
51,729,545
7,451
NEW YORK
428,470,291
48,818
NORTH CAROLINA
139,734,909
18,963
NORTH DAKOTA
16,987,597
2,353
OHIO
244,204,960
38,021
OKLAHOMA
80,166,186
13,474
OREGON
58,820,971
8,804
PENNSYLVANIA
225,684,989
35,372
RHODE ISLAND
21,775,158
3,135
SOUTH CAROLINA
81,602,767
12,248
SOUTH DAKOTA
18,620,111
2,827
TENNESSEE
118,039,184
16,397
TEXAS
473,492,116
67,875
UTAH
37,352,635
5,518
VERMONT
13,411,517
1,552
VIRGINIA
98,071,628
13,679
WASHINGTON
99,268,177
11,190
WEST VIRGINIA
50,091,048
7,610
WISCONSIN
89,887,220
13,538
WYOMING
12,236,450
1,792
INDIAN TRIBES
185,393,811
23,073
MIGRANT PROGRAMS
283,370,711
35,461
AMERICAN SAMOA
2,126,736
1,532
GUAM
2,140,027
440
NO. MARIANAS
1,646,090
579
PALAU
1,318,923
509
PUERTO RICO
246,599,340
36,842
VIRGIN ISLANDS
7,909,770
942

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HEAD START ENROLLMENT HISTORY

FISCAL YEAR
ENROLLMENT
APPROPRIATION
1965 (summer only)
561,000
$ 96,400,000
1966
733,000
198,900,000
1967
681,400
349,200,000
1968
693,900
316,200,000
1969
663,600
333,900,000
1970
477,400
325,700,000
1971
397,500
360,000,000
1972
379,000
376,300,000
1973
379,000
400,700,000
1974
352,800
403,900,000
1975
349,000
403,900,000
1976
349,000
441,000,000
1977
333,000
475,000,000
1978
391,400
625,000,000
1979
387,500
680,000,000
1980
376,300
735,000,000
1981
387,300
818,700,000
1982
395,800
911,700,000
1983
414,950
912,000,000
1984
442,140
995,750,000
1985
452,080
1,075,059,000
1986
451,732
1,040,315,000
1987
446,523
1,130,542,000
1988
448,464
1,206,324,000
1989
450,970
1,235,000,000
1990
540,930
1,552,000,000
1991
583,471
1,951,800,000
1992
621,078
2,201,800,000
1993
713,903
2,776,286,000
1994
740,493
3,325,728,000
1995
750,696
3,534,128,000
1996
752,077
3,569,329,000
1997
793,809
3,980,546,000
1998
822,316
4,347,433,000
1999
826,016
4,658,151,448
2000
857,664
5,267,000,000
2001
905,235
6,200,000,000
2002
912,345
6,536,570,000
2003
909,608
6,667,533,000
2004
905,851
6,774,848,000
2005
906,993
6,843,114,000
2006
909,201
6,785,771,000

The Head Start program has enrolled more than 24 million children since it began in 1965.

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